Improvement in ice-elevators



Pare/med 11111824, 1873.

AM, Pim To-uTHosRAPH/c ca My (osso/vivr PHncEss PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD ooNKLIN, 0E NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN ICE-ELEVATORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 140,187, dated J une 24, 7.873; application filed June 5, 1873.

To all whom zt may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD E. CONKLIN, of the city of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Handling Ice, of which the following is a specification:

My invention has for its object the rapid shipping or unloading of ice, more particularly from the freight-boats onto the pier, where the ice-blocks are received by ice-wagons and it consists in the application, for this purpose, of a series of friction-wheels secured at intervals on a horizontally-placed shaft revolved by a steam-engine or other power, andof a series of rope-drums, each provided with a friction-wheel faced to correspond with the friction-wheels on the shaft, each drum being pivoted in such a manner that, by a hand-1ever, it may be put in motion by being thrown against the revolving friction-wheel on the.

shaft, when hoisting is required, and stopped by throwing it out of contact with the friction- Wheel and against a stationary brake, when theice-block has been raised to the height desired; 4or the ice may be lowered by its own gravity by moving the lever in a position be' tween and out of contact with both frictionwheel and brake, the whole being so arranged that a number of drums may be operated independently of each other, and thus an equal number of boats may be simultaneously loaded or unloaded, as the case may be, all of which will be hereinafter more fully described.

In the accompanying drawing, making part of this specification, Figure 1, Sheet I, represents a plan View of a pier (the flooring being removed) with the machinery illustrating and embodying my invention. Fig. 2, Sheet II, is a vertical section of the same taken through the line a: of Fig. 1, and showing the `drum in position for raising a block of ice out of a boat for unloading on the pier.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in the different figures.

A is a pier. B is an ice-boat in position for being unloaded of ice. C is a steam engine and boiler, iuclosed within the walls of an engine-room built 0n the pier. This engine C connects with a long horizontal shaft, D, placed underneath the iiooring of the pier A, and imparts a rapid rotary motion to the said shaft D. E are friction-wheels, keyed or otherwise secured on the shaft D. To these wheels E I give a beveled or V-shaped face, in order to increase friction.v F are the ropedrums, the axles of which are mounted with one end, a', in a stationary bearing secured to the pier, and the other end, b', is pivoted in a hub on the vertical arm G, the lower end c of which is movably secured by a pin and bracket, or otherwise, to the pier, while its upper end d is connected with the hand-lever H by means of a rod, I, pivoted at e f. Below the joint f', on the frame-work of the pier, is the fulcrum g of the lever H. On the laterally movable end b of the rope-drum F, I attach a friction-wheel, J, having a grooved face corresponding to the bevel-faced wheel E, so as to exactly iit the latter. K is a stationary brake or iron block, having a V- shaped and concave edge, which is made to lit in the V-grooved face of the wheel J, and encircle a portion of its periphery. By this form of the block K great amount of friction is insured without much wear to the surface of the wheel J. L is an ordinary guide-pulley for the hoisting-rope h', and is allowed to slide on the horizontal rods i k to prevent the rope from doubling up or kinking on the drum F. From the pulleyL the rope goes through a tackle, l', on the mast in the usual manner, and toits pendent end are attached the icetongs-m. a

An ice-block being grasped in the tongs m', the operations of hoisting, stopping, and lowering the same are as follows: By placing the lever H in the position shown in Fig. 2, press the friction-wheel J against the rapidly-revolving wheel E. rlhis will cause the drum F to revolve, and the rope h to wind itself thereon and the ice block to ascend. The desired height being reached, stop the motion of the drum F by moving the lever H in the direction of the. arrow until the periphery of the friction-wheel J lodges tightly in the concave surface of the brake K. To lower the iceblock onto a chute to slide (or be pulled) ashore, ease the friction between the wheelJ and the brake K by a slight return movement of the hand-lever H, and the ice-block will descend by its own weight.

A catch or stop may be used to hold the lever in the different positions; but I have found the saine in the rapid changes of manipulation of the lever to be unnecessary.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. For the purpose of handling ice, a series of rope-drums, F, provided with the frictionwheels J, alternately reversible from contact with one to the other of a series of revolving friction-\vl1eels, E, and a series of stationary brakes, K, to alternately start and stop the motion of the drums F in such a manner that each drum may be operated separately, or all simultaneously, substantially as speciied.

2. The combination, of Jthe drum F, pivoted with one end tothe oscillating arm G, and provided with the V -grooved friction-wheel J, and operated by the lever H and rod I, with the revolving friction Wheel E, stationary brake K, and the sliding pulley L, all constructed substantially as and for the purpose specified.

EDWARD E. CONKLIN Witnesses WM. E. BENEDIG r, ROBERT MAGLAY. 

